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Oedipus Study Questions and Correct Answers
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<<<<< Elscores <<<<<>>>>> 19/08/2024 20:17>>>>>Oedipus Study Questions and Correct Answers
What is significant about the fact that the first line of the play is a question?
✓ ~: Sets a tone that the play is of questions and answers.
How does Oedipus choose the spokesman of the group of supplicants?
✓ ~: Chooses the closest one.
What is your first impression of Oedipus?
✓ ~: He seems to be a very proud and arrogant king.
What problem is afflicting the city of Thebes?
✓ ~: Thebes is unable to produce any crops, causing a famine. A plague.
What is the house of Cadmus?
✓ ~: The city of Thebes.
How does the priest say the supplicants view Oedipus? How does this begin to establish
Oedipus as an Aristotlelian tragic hero?
✓ ~: They view Oedipus as a main force of men, making him a tragic hero due to events
happening later in the plot.
What exposition does the priest provide in this scene?
✓ ~: The Priest reminds the audience that Oedipus is the hero who solved the riddle of the
sphinx(the "fell songstress") and freed the city of Thebes from its bondage.
, <<<<< Elscores <<<<<>>>>> 19/08/2024 20:17>>>>>
Why do the supplicants believe that Oedipus will be able to find a solution to the famine?
✓ ~: He had no human help when he had solved the Riddle of the Sphinx
Why does Oedipus claim he suffers even more than the supplicants?
✓ ~: Oedipus claims that each supplicant suffers only for himself individually while he,
Oedipus,suffers for the individual subject, his subjects generally, and for himself.
What impression do we get from Oedipus based on his language?
✓ ~: He seems to be a good king, but seems incredibly proud and arrogant.
What action has Oedipus taken to find an answer to the city's problem?
✓ ~: Sent Creon to the Oracle of Delphi.
What is Oedipus and Creon's relationship?
✓ ~: Brother in Law
What is foreshadowed by Oedipus' promise to the priest?
✓ ~: He said that he will do whatever the oracle demands.
Why does the Priest suspect Creon brings good news?
✓ ~: He sees that Creon is wearing a crown made from a laurel, the tree of Apollo, and
believes he
would not do so if he had brought bad news.
, <<<<< Elscores <<<<<>>>>> 19/08/2024 20:17>>>>>
When Creon arrives from Delphi, what does Oedipus insist that he do? What does this insist
about his character?
✓ ~: Creon decides to talk about the Oracle in private. Oedipus wants to talk about the
issue in public. It illustrates the extent to which he loves his subjects.
Why do you suppose Creon wants to talk to Oedipus in private first?
✓ ~: He wants to protect the privacy of his family.
What does Creon report from the Oracle?
✓ ~: The killer of Laius has to be exiled or killed to end the plague.
What is Oedipus' reaction to Creon's information?
✓ ~: He immediately asks questions about the circumstances of Laius' murder, presumably
in order to help find the murderers and purge the city.
Explain the dramatic irony in Oedipus' interrogation of Creon.
✓ ~: The audience knows Oedipus killed Laius.
What is ironic about the one survivors testimony?
✓ ~: He lied.
What theory does Oedipus immediately develop about Laius' death?
✓ ~: He suspects that the killer is among them.
Why did the citizens of Thebes not investigate Laius' murder at the time it occurred?
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✓ ~: They were preoccupied with the Sphinx
What does Oedipus promise to do? Why, according to Oedipus, must his resolution be
strong?
✓ ~: Oedipus promises to avenge the murder of Laius. He feels it is his duty as king to save
his people and also believes that the person who killed Laius may do the same to him:
"[W]hoever killed King Laios might--who knows?-/Lay violent hand even on me.." (141-
142; 1222)
Why does the Chorus appear at this point in the play?
✓ ~: The conflict has been introduced and the plot is in motion.
Whose voices does the Chorus represent?
✓ ~: Theban commoners
Give details of how the Chorus describes the city to the gods.
✓ ~: The Chorus tells the gods that their crops are not growing, their children are stillborn,
and many people are dying. The dead are lying on the ground, and there are few others
left to mourn them.
What does Ares represent to the Chorus? What various things do they wish for him?
✓ ~: Ares represents the Plague, they ask Zeus to strike him with lightning bolts.
What is ironic about the curse Oedipus places on the murderer of Laius?
✓ ~: He is placing the curse upon himself
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